No doubt about it, Canadian investors have a lot to complain about. The market is on a roller-coaster, pulled this way and that by forces beyond our borders. The S&P/TSX composite was down more than eight per cent by mid-January as benchmark oil prices dipped below US$30 a barrel and China continued to swoon. Then it recovered on speculation Russia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would agree to production cuts. This week the recovery proved short-lived, as oil prices once again dipped below $30. And so on.

Meanwhile, the Canbuck is worth less against the greenback than at any time since 2002. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz says we need to get used to inflation.

Closer to our pocketbooks than our portfolios, we’re already paying more for cauliflower and meat and oranges. Heck, many of us can’t even afford to get away from it all in Vegas or Miami, now that we’re paying a 40 per cent premium on everything stateside.

Canada’s economy is a zombie, our stock markets basket cases — right?

Well, it depends on how you look at it. You have to maintain perspective (at least that’s what they say). And when you do that, one thing becomes clear: it could be a lot worse.

Like, say, if you lived in Brazil.

The comparison is not altogether out of left field, though there are obvious differences between Canada and the place where the nuts come from. Brazil is home to 200 million people. It’s an emerging economy. They have jungles there, for crying out loud. And they speak Portuguese, largely.

Yet there are some similarities. GDP in both countries hovers around US$2 trillion (Canada slightly below, Brazil slightly above). More to the point, Brazil is subject to the fluctuations of global markets, because it is hugely reliant on the export of commodities like oil, iron, meat and grain.

Like Canada, Brazil’s economy, currency and stock market have been hit hard by the double whammy of decimated oil prices and China’s economic slowdown.

Yet as much as we complain, the damage Canada has sustained from these twin factors is similar to Brazil’s in kind, but not in degree. Not by a long shot.

The Brazilian real has fallen against the greenback by nearly 30 per cent over the past 12 months, making the CAD’s 8.8 per cent decline look piddling.

Brazil’s consumer price index rose by more than 10 per cent in 2015; Canada’s rose by 1.6 per cent, even with 3.7 per cent food inflation.

Yes, Canada’s economy barely grew last year, but Brazil’s shrank by nearly 3 per cent — the deepest recession for the country since 1901.

Meanwhile, and hardly surprisingly, Brazil’s Ibovespa stock index has fallen 20 per cent in the past year, and more than 8 per cent in 2016. The S&P/TSX composite’s 12-month return is -14.35 per cent, and YTD its -3.43 per cent.

Compared with Brazil, that’s positively stellar.

This leaves the question of why. Why is Brazil doing so badly when Canada is doing, well, just bad?

Here we can consider a few things we should be thankful for.

First, be thankful our economy is not as closely tied to China’s as Brazil’s economy is.

Brazil literally bet the farm on Chinese growth this millennium. Its trade with China expanded more than 40 times between 2000 and 2013, making China its largest trading partner in place of the United States. Now, with Chinese economic growth foundering, Brazil is paying the price.

At least we still have America to count on.

Second, be thankful Canada’s government doesn’t really matter that much, comparatively speaking. That is, when Canadian governments screw up, markets don’t care: You won’t be hearing any talk of a Mike Duffy factor on Bay Street.

In Brazil, it’s a different story, and a different order of magnitude. The government under Dilma Rousseff is embroiled in a widening scandal involving alleged kickbacks, bribery and embezzlement that threatens the administration. This has no doubt helped fuel uncertainty in the stock market – which is, by the way, the most volatile exchange in the Americas.

It doesn’t help that the country’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, is at the epicentre of the scandal. Its share price recently tested US$1. (Which reminds me of another thing to be thankful for: Canada doesn’t have a state-owned oil company anymore.)

Third, be thankful we don’t have real stagflation (yet), and that our central bank can still do something effective (probably).

You think Stephen Poloz is caught between a rock and a hard place? Consider the central bank of Brazil. Its key interest rate is already at 14.25 per cent, and the economy is shrinking. Raising rates to fight rampant inflation could deepen the recession (and spark a popular revolt), but lowering rates to stimulate the economy could stoke further inflation. No wonder it decided to do nothing and hold rates steady last month.

There’s more, of course: the Zika virus, an upcoming Olympics dealing with huge cost overruns, and so on.

This is not to revel in other people’s misery, only to point out that as much as we complain (with some justification) about the state of the economy and markets, Canadian investors have fared OK, all things considered.